


You do it for Them

by SilverScribe



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Corrupted Gems, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Near Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-07-22 21:50:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7455172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverScribe/pseuds/SilverScribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the student has to teach the teacher a lesson they already know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings AO3 and welcome to my first posting on this fine site. :) This will be a multi-chapter story that will be about three or four chapters in length. There is the possibility of it being the start of a series but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, and I don't want to say anything to spoil what *could* be in the future. ;) I hope you enjoy my humble offering. Reviews greatly appreciated!

Icy gusts whipped between the ruined columns sending the pervading mists swirling up into towering spires or clumping together in looming hills. Yet no matter how the winds heaved the fog never lifted, never cleared so much as to show a glimpse of the ancient floor tiles. The cold was the worst part, it was the height. Times like this often made her wish the Sky Arena could have been the Balmy Island Arena instead, or that her deep purple sparring tunic was a little thicker at least. But there was no time for wishes or internal whining, all of her focus was turned to her surroundings. Sight was useless beyond her immediate position. So she channeled all her concentration into hearing, into feeling the environment around her.

Everything seemed so loud, her steady heartbeat drummed at her ears while her even breathing seemed to add a low howl to the high pitched keen of the air whipping between the crumbling pillars. The chill miasma surrounding her grabbed at her skin as she padded along, rose tented blade high and at the ready. Aside from these distractions everything was perfectly still, but experience had taught her better, she knew something was out there. Many somethings most likely, waiting to strike. That's when she felt it, felt the eyes watching her.

Many eyes.

Red eyes.

There were five of them in total, two came soaring down out of the sky, slender and elegant rapiers leading. She rolled to her left at the last moment, the sharp sound of metal digging into stone ringing in her ears as the floor tiles took the blades meant for her flesh. As she came up from her roll she immediately fell back to her knees and slid forward, the silvery blade of a third attacker missing her noes by a hairsbreadth. She was stuck reacting, that was bad, she had to take control of the encounter. She saw her last two attackers coming, sprinting out of the mists so fast they almost seemed to be gliding across the ancient arena. Their swords were stretched out before them, their arms so close that they nearly touched as they rushed to impale her with their lightening thrust.

She had her bearings now, time to stop with simple reactions.

She came back to her feet, her two newest attackers were only a heartbeat away, and then she leapt. She leapt clear over the heads of the two rushing her, her long dark braid trailing behind as the world slowed to a crawl, and she twisted. She twisted and brought the lengthy blade of her rose tented sword around in a brutal horizontal cut, a cut that passed right through the thin necks of her attackers. She landed, it was a little sloppy, and she slid back a couple feet using her free hand to stabilize herself. The two figures with freshly bisected necks stood for a moment. Then their forms flickered and wavered like static on a old television set, before finally shattering into a thousand shards of glass that vanished before meeting the floor. Two dull clanks echoed through the fog as their swords fell where they had stood.

Now there were three.

She steadied herself and stood, stance wide and body lowered just as she had been taught. Her remaining opponents were gathering themselves but with their numbers diminished and their ambush failed they were being more cautious. Tall and lithe with limbs as slender as their blades they began to break into a semi-circle in front of her. Their pale semi-translucent bodies almost blending into the fog around them. They wouldn't attack all at once, there would be a feint and then one would go in for the kill. Her breathing was calm, her heartbeat steady, she was ready.

The one on her right leapt into the air, the one on the left sprang towards her and the third hung back. This was the trap. She ignored the enemy above her and engaged the one in her face, it came at her with a blinding series of thrusts which she calmly avoided. It pirouetted on the spot spinning its blade for her head, which she ducked, then she had to suck in her gut and throw her hips backwards to avoid the brunt of the kick that followed the blade on the spin. It clipped her, slightly winding her, but it also slowed her opponent and threw off its perfect balance. She drove her weapon into its exposed back before it could recover. As her dancing opponent shattered before her she saw the third sprinting forward, sword outstretched for her heart.

Her vanquished foe had been a sacrifice play to leave her exposed.

It wouldn't work.

At the last possible second she threw herself to the right, one steady heartbeat later the enemy charging for her and the one diving from above with its sword leveled to skewer her collided. The blade meant to take her through the chest instead rammed through the torso of her falling attacker. It flickered for a moment, its distorted round face almost looked surprised, and then shattered.

A fourth blade clattered to the ground.

Breath calm, heart steady, stance wide and body low. It was time to finish this. But then her last opponent did something that gave her pause. While staring down its pointed nose at her it knelt and retrieved the slender sword of its fallen comrade. As it stood it brought a blade opposite to each shoulder and then flourished them across to rest pointed at the ground by its narrow hips. It was going to dual wield, it was almost as if it were issuing a challenge.

She was more than ready to accept.

It launched itself toward her, covering the distance in a single leap, leading with the blade in its left hand. Sparks flew as their blades clashed and the force of the impact briefly pushed away the mists drifting around them. She was pushed back a few steps, no she couldn't match her opponents power, that wasn't where her strength lay. It spun, grinding their blades together, sending more sparks into the heavy air. Its second blade came in low sweeping for her legs, looking to disable, while it tried to keep her off balance with the first. She performed a short hop, tucking her legs up into her chest without ever breaking contact with her opponent, then while the wicked edge of the second blade passed beneath her feet she pushed powerfully with her arms. Using her opponent for leverage she threw herself back to land neatly out of its range.

It immediately charged as she landed, intent on keeping her off balance, its blades were a blur of motion coming from every angle. The air sang with their clashing and she realized her arms were beginning to go numb with the force of the impacts, she had to end it. It brought its right sword arm around in a powerful slash, before it could complete the motion she slammed her larger rose tinted blade against it with all her might. Her enemy's blade shattered, more due to the quality of her own weapon than her strength of arm, and it wobbled there for half a moment knocked slightly off balance.

That moment was all she needed.

She dropped to the ground and swept her legs in hard against her precariously balanced foe, it toppled over onto its back. Then she was up and driving her blade down, it easily sank through its chest and into the weathered tile below its back, neatly bisecting the star pattern prominently displayed upon its tunic. The elegant form impaled below her wavered and flicked, then opened its mouth for the first time.

“Match set, challenger wins.”

It's cold, mechanical voice echoed through the mists and then it shattered into shards of glass and faded away. She pulled her sword out of the stone and let it rest easy at her side, breath calm, heart steady. It was over. The only sign that she had made any exertion at all was a slight sheen of sweat on her chocolate brown skin.

“Well done,” said a melodic voice from somewhere above her in the mists, “but let us see how well you handle this.”

The heavy mists roiled and parted, rolling back in all directions until they were gone entirely, leaving the Sky Arena clear and completely visible for the first time since she had arrived. Glossy white stone shone all around her, rigid tiered seating rose before her, wrapping around what was left of the arena proper before ending in jagged ruins. Pillars paired with crumbling statues of ancient warriors loomed into view, and surrounding the entirety of the beautiful ruins were fluffy, billowing white clouds under a powder blue sky. She had always found this place enchanting, it was hard to believe that a setting of such wonder had seen so much carnage in its lifetime.

She caught a glimmer of movement up near the entrance to the stands and calmly dropped into a ready position. But it wasn't another slender enemy or even the source of the melodic voice, who was no where to be seen, instead it was a transparent red bubble. It floated down past the ancient diamond insignia that hung over the entrance until it came to a rest on the arena floor before her. Then with a gentle pop the bubble dissipated and its contents clinked gently onto the floor tiles.

It was a salmon colored, roughly pentagonal gem as big as both her fists put together. And it was beginning to emit a bright, red light.

For a moment she let surprise take her, she had never expected this, even for the final trial of her training. But she soon recovered herself. Stance wide, body lowered, she breathed in evenly as the arena bathed in the brilliant light of regeneration.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, sorry for the wait. This chapter is a bit longer than the last so hopefully it was worth it. I promise the next one will actually have a decent amount of dialogue. >_>
> 
> I took some minor liberties with the structure of the Sky Arena. In the next chapter we'll really start getting into the angst. Reviews greatly appreciated!

The glow from the gem flared as it slowly floated up into the air, she held one hand up before her eyes as she watched her opponent take shape. A glowing red mass spread out from the gem. First a formless torso, quickly followed by arms and legs and a head. Long flowing hair exploded down its back. For a moment she thought it would actually stop there.

But it didn't.

The form flickered and wavered, then let out a high pitched and terribly shrill roar. One that was eerily familiar to her. Glowing arms and legs merged back into a thickening and stretching torso, it kept growing and bulging to larger and longer proportions. The head bulged and widened until it was nothing but a cavernous, gaping maw while the hair split and spread around the head into five separate, meaty appendages.

Finally the light faded and she lowered her hand. The Corrupted Gem lay there spread across the tiles, its body taking up at least half the length of the ruined arena. Purple and blue splotches played across its smooth flesh and muddy brown skin coiled and bunched under a thick translucent outer layer. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and the massive, spherical head snapped in her direction. Rings and rings of triangular teeth faced her and deep within the beast's gullet the pentagonal gem glowed steadily.

It roared.

That same shrill, almost pained roar she remembered from years ago. When she was just a child, when this thing had nearly killed her. When all this, everything that she was now, had first began to come into her life. For a moment she was that scared child again running along under the pier desperately trying to get away. For a moment all she wanted to do was turn and sprint for the warp pad that she had no hope of activating alone.

No.

She wasn't that child anymore, she wasn't defenseless or ignorant. She could fight now, she could win, she _would_ conquer this final test. Stance wide, body lowered, sword raised. Her breathing was ragged and her heart thumped as if she'd just finished her practice drills up and down the arena seats. But she was calm, she was in control, she was ready.

She was hit in the chest.

It came from the outskirts of the arena at a blistering speed. She was so focused on the Gem Monster that she didn't even register the red orb until it exploded all over her. She was drenched, it was in her hair, on her face and all over the front of her dark purple tunic. She looked down at the remnants of the water balloon, what the hell was this about? Then she gave herself a second look and understood.

She was glowing.

It was weak in the brilliant sunlight but it was there. Everywhere the liquid touched she was glowing a faint, yet distinct red. And she remembered, this creature tracked red light. Images of her glowing scarlet bracelet from their first encounter filled her mind. This must be the work of her teacher, she wasn't going to give her any advantages in this fight. How like her.

The gigantic worm uncoiled and came writhing towards her, it was fast, still she easily avoided it with a leap to her left. She brought her blade up, ready to carve into its side as it surged by, but then she was tumbling and rolling across the tiles. Its massive tail had whipped into her as it passed, she hadn't expected a reaction like that. During their first meeting it followed anything red and luminescent mindlessly, simply treating it as food. But this time instead of trying to turn and come back at her with its mouth it had actually used its tail to strike out. Like it knew it was fighting an actual opponent and not just chasing something tasty. So it was smarter, great.

She picked herself up, nothing was broken, she had gone into rolls as soon as she'd been hit doing her best to absorb the impact. Just a few scrapes and the beginning twinges of what was likely to be a glorious bruise across her abdomen. Her scrapes stung as the glowing liquid and her sweat ran into them. Okay, no more assumptions. She was going to win this, she was going to prove herself.

Before the Corrupted Gem could turn she was sprinting, not running but outright sprinting as fast as her toned legs could carry her. When she came to the gem's tail she vaulted, soaring through the air to land on its undulating back. Then she was running again only now she was also slashing. She left deep horizontal gashes all along the worms back as she went, her rose tented blade effortlessly cleaving through the writhing flesh. It roared again, shrill, pained and this time deafening. The arena shook with the force of it and pain stabbed at her ears. The worm started to thrash and she quickly launched herself off, landing and coming up with a quick roll on the arena floor. Her ears were still ringing and she felt disoriented, she had to do something about that roar.

Using her sword she quickly sheared off two pieces of crimson cloth from her sash, balled them up and shoved them in her ears. It keened once more, she winced but her improvised earplugs seemed to be holding off the worst of it. She examined her opponent as it worked to turn its maw in towards her. At least a dozen gouges ran from its tail to the mid-point of its back but aside from the keening they seemed to have little effect. She had to do enough damage to poof it, somehow.

Then things got much worse.

The Gem Monster reared back raising its head and upper body high into the air, then it dove right into the arena floor as if it were water.

“Oh my stars,” she muttered breathlessly while the entire arena shook in protest at the intrusion.

What was left of the Sky Arena foundation couldn't be very deep, but it was deep enough that she couldn't see any signs of the worm's passage under the floor tiles. Just a steady rumbling that permeated the whole floor. She stood perfectly still, sweat and luminescent liquid dripping from her body. It would only be able to track her underground by movement and sound and she didn't intend to give it either. Her eyes roved the arena looking for any hint of where the worm might be, her legs were tensed against the vibrations, but she couldn't discern a thing. Then the vibrations stopped and even her breathing seemed too loud in the ensuing silence.

The floor behind her erupted in a spray of tiles and stone.

Before she could so much as turn around she was swept off her feet by one of the thick appendages surrounding the worm's maw. She went face first to the ground as it began dragging her back, both her legs trapped in the crushing grip. She clawed at the ground with her hands and her sword, trying to somehow halt her progress towards those rows and rows of glistening teeth, it did little. She felt her feet slip over the edge of what passed for the beast's lips, she squeezed her eyes shut in fear and desperation.

_The earth is my home too, can't I help protect it?_

She opened her eyes. Those were the words that set her on this path, that began her training, was this going to be the end of them? She clenched her teeth and then twisted her torso painfully around to the right. She pushed and pulled with her legs with all her strength doing anything to gain purchase, anything to twist herself around in the monsters grip so she could face it. Finally just before she passed the first ring of teeth she found her self staring into the Corrupted Gem's gullet, at its softly glowing gem. She swung her rose tinted blade down hard just below her feet, slicing deep into the creatures mouth appendage. It roared, even with earplugs it was unbearable at this range. Her position and angle were awkward, she struggled to balance her sword and aim for a second cut while her head swam with the beast's keening.

She swung again, her eyes so squinted in pain it was a wonder she didn't hack through her own legs, and then she was free. Her blade sheared the rest of the way through the appendage and as it separated from the Corrupted Gem's body it reared back pulling itself further out of the ground, releasing its loudest and most pain filled roar yet. As soon as her blade cleared the creatures flesh the portion of the tentacle holding her vanished in a puff of white smoke. Then she was running.

Well, a hobbling gallop really.

Her legs screamed beneath her as she forced them to move, she wasn't sure if anything was broken and right then she didn't care. It was run or die. The floor tiles were vibrating again. The stands, she had to make it to the arena seating. The pain was fading now, whether by the power of adrenaline or just stretching out the kinks the crushing grip had caused to her legs she didn't know. Almost there...

The floor tiles under her feet were distorting, bulging outwards, it was going to emerge. She screwed her eyes shut and growled through gritted teeth. Her whole body slanted forward as she leaned into her furious sprint, legs pumping for all she was worth. Then her feet met the blessed first steps of the ruined stands and her eyes snapped open with a breathless laugh. She'd made it to the seats! She knew the Sky Arena like a second home, she'd been training here for years. So she knew its foundations tapered out near its perimeter, under the stands. The Gem Monster wouldn't be able to continue underground unless it wanted to burst out into open sky, it would have to emerge to attack her here.

And then she would be able to strike.

Halfway up the stands she turned and raised her sword, she had the high ground, it would have to climb its way up to her. The arena was still, it had stopped. A long, muted roar shook the entire structure, it almost seemed like the Sky Arena itself was wailing. The ancient statues of the long forgotten warriors below trembled in time with the dirge. She shivered slightly, it was a bizarre sound, but she wasn't going to loose her nerve now. The floor was bunching at the base of the stands, it was going to emerge soon, then she would end it.

It exploded out of the arena and then she was flying.

The Corrupted Gem rocketed out from the base of the stands launching itself like a missile from the earth, she was completely unprepared. It crashed into the seats just below her with a thunderous bang, the stone beneath her feet exploded with the force and the entire section seemed to ripple with the impact. She was flung backwards at a breakneck speed, clearing the top half of the stands in a few heartbeats, before slamming into the wall near the arena entrance. There was a snap in her left arm followed by a searing agony the likes of which she had never experienced, then her vision went dark as she slid down the wall collapsing to her knees on the top tier.

She was nauseous, the pain pulsed through her left arm in waves and her vision swam between darkness and hazy clarity. The only thing keeping her on her knees was the rose tented blade in her right hand, driven half its length into the stone under her and holding most of her weight. She heard screeching, frustrated and sporadic, not the sustained and paralyzing keen from earlier. It was coming, she had to do something, she had to move.

She nearly toppled down the stands when she tried to rise.

She settled for turning her head towards the source of the cacophony instead and what she saw sent new and desperate strength surging through her limbs. It was stuck. The front half of the Corrupted Gem's head was buried where it had crashed into the stands. Its body was writhing and whipping about as it began to pull itself free. Move. She had to move. This was her only chance. Move!

She heaved herself to her feet letting out a pained yell as she jarred her hanging left arm. Gasping, she ripped her blade out of the masonry and turned towards her opponent. Then somehow she was running again, it helped tremendously that she was headed downhill. The rubble was shifting, it was nearly free, she picked up speed barely able to keep her feet as she half flew and half fell down the stone stairs. Then as she was nearing the struggling beast's head she channeled all that momentum into her legs, flipped her sword around into a reverse grip and leapt with everything she had left.

She came crashing down onto the worm's head with a roar ripped straight from her ragged lungs. All of her weight and all of the force of her desperate charge channeled into the rose tinted sword as it buried itself to the hilt in the Corrupted Gem's crown. It thrashed and screeched but there was no strength in it, the creature was going limp beneath her and she knew the victory was hers. Finally.

Then she began to panic.

The glow from the creatures gem was diminishing, the glow shining up through its bulbous head, a glow with her blade at its center.

“No, no, no. Please, please don't let it be shattered. Please!”

She was frantic, she couldn't have killed it! How could she have been so careless? So stupid! Then she was falling again and blind as a huge cloud of white smoke filled the air around her. It had released its physical form. Pain shot through her body anew as she fell to the pulverized stone below, her blade clattering unceremoniously beside her. But she immediately began crawling forward on two knees and her one good arm.

She had to find it.

The ever present wind quickly cleared away the smoky white remnants of her opponent and she desperately swept her eyes over the area where she guessed its gem must have fallen. A dull sparkle caught her eye as the sun pierced the dissipating vapor and she quickly scurried over to it. Falling back onto her haunches she picked up the pentagonal gem in her right hand and examined it desperately. It looked intact but... She ran her fingers all over its smooth, flat plains, examined it from every angle. Finally she let out a deep breath and fell over onto her right side, the gem cradled gently against her chest.

It was okay, she hadn't shattered it, she hadn't killed a Crystal Gem.

Relief swept through her battered body and with it all her strength fled.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. This chapter took a bit longer to get out, had to go back and tweak a few things based on what we've learned from the newest episodes and leaks. Hope everyone else is enjoying the Steven Nuke as much as I am!
> 
> And look, substantial dialogue finally! Along with some exposition.
> 
> I'd be really interested in hearing feedback on Pearl and Connie in this chapter, as in are they in character enough compared to the show? I'd only note that their relationship is meant to be a bit more casual and comfortable here since this is set a few years after the current point in the show. But keeping them in character is really important to me.
> 
> We're now at the third chapter of what I've finally decided will be a four chapter fic, unless something changes my mind
> 
> So just one more to go hopefully, thanks for reading so far and hope you enjoy this installment.

Stars, she wanted nothing more than to pass out and get away from all the aches and pains in her body. Her left arm was pulsing fresh waves of nausea through her, the scrapes and cuts all over her arms and face stung with sweat as well as the remnants of the luminescent liquid she had been soaked in, and the deep ache in her abdomen painfully reminded her that the bruise from the earlier tail swipe was coming along nicely. She considered giving into that temptation, right here where she had fallen curled up around her defeated foe's gemstone, but then she heard light footsteps coming up the arena stairs.

She lurched to a sitting position, gently placing the salmon hued gemstone she had been clutching behind her. Her rose tented blade was several feet in front of her, lying where she had initially fallen. She didn't know exactly how much good she'd be in this condition even with her magnificent sword but she didn't intend to just give up. With a few embarrassing whimpers she staggered to her feet and made for her weapon, but she stopped as the source of the footsteps came into view.

Tall as well as slender, each step she took seemed to carry a certain grace, almost on the point of breaking into dance. She wore a teal colored tunic emblazoned with a golden star over ivory white skin. Sky-blue eyes sat over a sharp pointed nose and under a peach-pink bob cut. She knelt and picked up the rose tented blade reverently and then slid it home into the matching sheath she had been carrying with her.

“Pearl?”

“Excellent work Connie, you pass,” Pearl said with a rather proud smile. When Connie fell to her knees it was quickly replaced with a look of concern. Pearl rushed to Connie's side and retrieved a bottle from her gem filled with a pale, pink liquid. “Here, drink this.”

“Is that... Is that Steven's spit?” Connie asked hesitantly as she leaned into the crouching Pearl.

“What? No! They're tears from Rose's fountain, I gathered some for today. Just in case...” Pearl replied with a touch of nervous laughter.

Connie took the bottle with her good hand and chugged it unceremoniously, besides being in a decent amount of pain she was also pretty thirsty. As the miraculous liquid slid down her throat a comforting warmth spread through her body, like she was being enveloped in a pleasant hug. The nauseating throb in her left arm eased, her cuts and scrapes disappeared and the painful ache in her midsection subsided. She felt whole again, exhausted but whole.

“You know, this was one of my favorite swords,” Pearl said while flourishing the hilt of a shattered rapier that Connie hadn't noticed her holding until now. The blade Connie had destroyed in her fight with the last Holo-Pearl.

“Glad to know you have more concern for one of your swords than your prized pupil Pearl,” Connie said with a half smile as she leaned into the now seated Crystal Gem.

“Of course, I knew you could handle it. No need to worry about that.”

“Oh...thanks.” Connie responded, a light blush rising on her face from the praise.

“Actually I was a hovering wreck during the second half of your trial. I broke three of my spears with worry and the effort of keeping myself from interfering,” Pearl said with a self deprecating chuckle.

Connie laughed.

“Yeah, I guess it was a pretty sloppy fight on my part,” Connie said while she carefully handed the salmon colored gem to Pearl. Pearl looked it over briefly before encasing it in a pale, transparent bubble of her own and making it vanish with a wave of her hand.

“Nonsense, Kunzite was one of our most powerful warriors during the Rebellion, you put up an excellent fight against her. Your tactics were superb.”

Kunzite.

Connie digested the name for a bit, spent some time trying to imagine what she would have been like in her uncorrupted form. The memory of the Corrupted Gem regenerating flashed into her mind, of that brief glimpse of a humanoid body. A body washed away and twisted with a pained roar. She shivered and looked up at Pearl, who had a faraway look in her eyes.

“You knew her?”

“Yes, we fought in many battles together before...before it happened. She was always going on about how someone had to be there to watch my back or I'd get myself shattered,” Pearl answered with a wistful smile.

“Steven hasn't been able to help Kunzite?”

"No, not yet. He's tried multiple times but her mental trauma is extensive. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her, how badly the diamond's corruption touched her... He had an idea that letting her regenerate fully again might shake something loose, this seemed like a fine opportunity to try it.”

“I hope it helped.”

“Yes, me too.”

They sat in silence for awhile, neither saying anything. Pearl was likely waiting for Connie to gather a little strength before they started back, for which she was immensely grateful. At the moment she felt up to little more than leaning against Pearl's shoulder. She looked around at the Sky Arena, at the remnants of a bygone invasion of her home. It was so beautiful to her and yet at the same time it represented the attempted genocide of her entire race. Such a terrible beauty.

And now it may well be starting again.

For years the Crystal Gems had known Homeworld was coming back, that a new war loomed, ever since they had encountered Peridot really. Connie hadn't realized it back then, she'd been too young and too caught up in simply enjoying her time with Steven. The thought of Steven made her smile. He was so determined and optimistic about the coming conflict. For over a year he had been restoring Corrupted Gems, ever since he finally worked out the missing pieces to the technique with the gem he affectionately referred to as Centipeetle. Kunzite was one of his few failures since, and he even had aspirations to somehow restore the Cluster! He was wonderful, he was giving them an army, giving them hope.

But not just him, all the Crystal Gems.

Pearl and Peridot had been working furiously over the past two years salvaging and restoring Gem technology. Setting up defenses, automated attack systems, anything to give them a slight advantage. Garnet and Pearl were beginning to work out the logistics of reforming the Crystal Gem Army as their ranks swelled and so many happy reunions were tempered by the grim reality of impending battle. Lapis flew patrols around the Solar System and set up monitoring devices for Peridot, a precaution that would hopefully give them some early warning of incoming Homeworld ships. Bismuth even restored her old forge with the help of Amethyst and the two of them were restocking the Crystal Gem Armory.

Everyone was doing their part to protect the Earth, to protect each other and that's why she was so elated to have passed the final stage of her training. It meant that when the time came she'd be ready to help too. And after the war... after the war she could be with Steven.

“You just think about the life you'll have together after the war...” Connie sang softly under her breadth.

“Did you say something Connie?”

“Oh-oh no! Just humming a old tune,” she replied hurriedly.

“Well, shall we head back then?” Pearl asked as she helped Connie rise and returned her rose tinted blade, “I think this calls for a bit of a celebration, I'll make you dinner.”

“That sounds great, thank you Pearl,” Connie replied enthusiastically, she was starving.

The pair set a leisurely pace up the stairs towards the arena entrance and the warp pad beyond. Pearl gave a detailed play by play opinion piece of Connie's performance as they walked but she found herself struggling to give it any attention. She looked over her shoulder at the ruined stands, at the holes and sunken trenches in the arena flooring and felt a pang of regret. Her fight had further scarred an already damaged beauty. She tuned back in just as Pearl was wrapping up one of her critiques.

“Shattering the blade of the final Holo-Pearl was rather sloppy, but I can't fault the effectiveness of the technique. However the way you handled the fourth, turning its own comrade's attack against it was brilliant— ”

“Pearl?” Connie interrupted.

“Yes?”

“The Sky Arena, it's...it's ruined.”

They both stopped near the top of the stands then and turned to view the destruction laid out before them. Connie felt another pang of sadness and let out a deep sigh.

“Oh don't worry about that, Bismuth and Peridot will have this place looking as good as new when they can spare a moment to get up here. Well, as close to new as a ruin can look at any rate.”

“Really?” Connie asked hopefully

“Yes really Connie,” Pearl responded with a smile and a light touch to Connie's shoulder. “I'm glad you've grown fond of this place, it's still quite special to me as well.”

“How could I not grow fond of it? I've practically lived here for the last half of my training,” Connie said with a laugh. “But it's been worth it, now I'm prepared to fight alongside you and Steven and everyone else.”

Pearl's hand tightened slightly on her shoulder and she could feel a certain tension enter the air between them. She looked up to see Pearl's face twisted with unease. She knew that look, it was the look Pearl always got when she was about to tell Connie something she knew she wouldn't like. “Pearl, what's wrong?” she asked, trying to keep the note of worry out of her voice.

Pearl let out a heavy sigh. “Connie... you won't be with us on the front during the war with Homeworld.”

“What!? But-but you said I passed!”

“You did. You're a wonderful warrior, a true knight, but I can't let you face this kind of danger. Your skills will serve you well in self defense, they'll give you and those close to you some kind of chance if...if the Crystal Gems should fall.”

Pearl was looking at her with a mixture of anxiety and determination she hadn't seen in years. Where was this coming from? Why now after all this? She could fight! She could help!

“Pearl I don't understand...” Connie said, her voice cracking and wavering with both confusion and near panic over the situation.

“Connie so many humans died during the Rebellion. For every Crystal Gem that fell a dozen or more human warriors lost their lives. You've been to Rose's Armory, you've seen the armor of the fallen. They were magnificent, brave and skilled, but they were hopelessly outmatched. At the time I was cold, indifferent, as far as I was concerned they were doing their duty and that was all there was to it. After all what were our lives compared to the cause of Rose Quartz?” Pearl continued bitterly with a mirthless chuckle of self deprecation at the way she used to think.

“I don't want that for you Connie. You, Steven, Greg... you've all shown me so much more about humanity then I cared to learn back then. This is our fight, this is our fault. I want you to be safe.”

Connie's body shook, her breath came short, she couldn't believe this was happening. “This isn't just your fight Pearl! Everyone who calls Earth their home has a right to stand with you! And this isn't your fault either, the Crystal Gems aren't Homeworld.”

“Connie I'm doing this for you, you're an excellent strategist. You can help us plan, coordinate, but I can't let you out on the front.”

“Strategy,” she nearly screamed, “I can fight Pearl! I can fuse! I've been on missions!”

“Connie our missions are nothing like what's coming, you can't understand what's coming... Fighting my Holo-Pearls and a mindless, powerful but mindless, Gem Beast can't prepare you for what they'll do. You can only fuse with Steven and while they're a powerful warrior Stevonnie is nearly as vulnerable as a normal human. Steven can fuse with the other Crystal Gems now.”

“Steven is half human and you're letting him fight!”

“He's also half gem and if there were any option to keep him out of this and still have a hope of winning I would certainly take it!” Pearl half yelled, her composure starting to crack.

Connie was at a loss. Pearl was adopting her haughty, lecturing tone. The tone she used when she was right and you were being ridiculous. There was no reasoning with her. She couldn't stand it.

“Fine, I'll prove it to you,” Connie said through clenched teeth as she drew her rose tinted blade and tossed the scabbard aside. It clattered loudly on the hard stone during the ensuing silence.

“I'm not going to fight you Connie, this is ridic—“

Pearl never finished her sentence because Connie lunged. Faster than her eyes could ever hope to follow Pearl reached up to her gem and materialized her spear blocking Connie's blade in a shower of sparks.

“Fine. If this is what it takes to make you see reason,” Pearl said in an even voice, her face grim and the look in her eyes sending chills down Connie's spine.

But it didn't matter, she would conquer her last trial. Even if that meant conquering her mentor.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm sorry this chapter took so much longer than the others. I spent a lot of time reworking parts of it, then I got sidetracked by another one shot fic I just had to post inspired by Jasper and the Steven Nuke, and it was all just a mess. :( But it's here now and with this chapter the work is complete! I hope you enjoy, as always comments and feedback is appreciated! :)

What in the hell was she thinking? Her injuries might be healed but she was coming off the battle of her life, she was exhausted. She didn't even know if she could beat Pearl fresh, let alone in this state. But it was the only thing she could think to do, Pearl wouldn't listen. She had to make her see somehow, had to make her understand. Not participating in the defense of Earth, not being there for her friends, for Steven...

She couldn't stand it, she wouldn't.

“Connie this is insane, you can't beat me. I'm trying to protect you.”

“You're trying to protect yourself Pearl, you're doing what's best for you, not me! How do you think I'll feel sitting back and watching? Watching while everyone I care about puts themselves in danger as I'm safe and protected. How do you think I'll feel if you get shattered? Or Steven? Or Lapis? Knowing that I could have helped, that I could have made a difference. How do you think I'll feel Pearl?! How would you have felt if Rose kept you from fighting alongside her!?”

Connie touched a nerve with that last one, several bolts of pure white energy shot out from Pearl's spear in rapid succession. She dodged the first two narrowly, skipping her way down the arena stands, only to look up at the third. Crap, crap, crap, crap! She didn't have time to dodge, desperately she brought the Rose Quartz blade around and slashed. The blast deflected into the stone at her feet, smoke and dust rose all around her. Then Pearl's voice cut through.

“And what about your family? Your mother and father, have you thought of them? How will they feel when their daughter is ground into the dirt by Homeworld's forces. Broken and tossed aside? Will your sacrifice for your home be enough to comfort them?” The words were cold and concise, meant to bite.

Pearl was behind her now, near the arena floor. The dust hadn't settled yet, she wouldn't be able to anticipate. Connie coiled down as low as her body would allow, bunching every muscle fiber in her legs to the brink of pain. And then she sprang forward, blade leading. Pearl saw her soaring out of the smoke at the last second, her spear at her side and her face full of raw anger and...sadness? Surprise replaced the turmoil on her face before Connie had time to decipher it.Pearl raised her spear in time but she was off balance, her footing wasn't right to absorb the impact of the blow. Connie slammed into her and they went flying the last few yards to crash into the arena floor below.They were face to face on the ground, Connie's pink hued blade pressed with all her might against Pearl's awkwardly held spear. Connie stared into Pearls eyes, eyes that were a swirly mess of anger, determination and....fear. Fear for her.

“How will my parents feel Pearl if you all fall to Homeworld and we're huddled together waiting for the end? How will I feel knowing that I could have done something to help, however small? You have to let me go Pearl, I'm not a child anymore, I'm not the little girl who came to you for training years ago,” Connie said softly.

Pearl's grip on her spear wavered as her eyes widened, they were shining, on the verge of overflowing with tears. But then they snapped down into narrow, rigid furrows before she let out a mighty yell.

Connie was flying. Again.

Pearl wrenched her spear forward with a strength Connie could never hope to match and threw her across the arena. She bounced and slid and tumbled painfully, concentrating all of her will on the desperate grip she had on her blade. Somehow she managed to hold onto it as she came to a stop, sprawled out on her back. She wanted nothing more than to stay where she was, look up at the crystal blue sky and ease her exhaustion with sleep. But she couldn't, she wouldn't stop, not until Pearl understood.

“Fighting in the war is suicide Connie! The aid you might give isn't worth the risk! You're too important!” Pearl shouted, slashing her spear through the air for emphasis, then in a softer tone, “You're too important to me.” Pearl was quite for a moment, eyes on the ground. Connie drug herself back to her feet and managed to sink into a fighting stance, but she only stared at her teacher.

“Do you know how many friends I lost during the Rebellion? Do you know how many I watched shatter? Can you imagine how many Homeworld Gems I shattered in turn? War isn't like anything you've ever experienced. War is, to use a phrase you humans are fond of, hell. And now...now I have to go through it all again. I can't stop Garnet or Amethyst or Bismuth or anyone else from fighting, I can't keep anyone else safe. But I can keep you safe. Please... Please let me.”

Connie was trembling, Pearl looked on the verge of tears and it tore at her. But it also made her so angry! Didn't she understand how selfish she was being? Didn't she understand the pain Connie would go through if she allowed Pearl to keep her “safe”? And then it all boiled over. The exhaustion, the roller coaster of emotions she had been through, it all came together and exploded through her lips into words she didn't mean. Words she knew weren't true.

“Keep me safe? I thought I didn't matter? I thought I was just a shield for Steven?”

The look those words brought to Pearl's face, guilt and self loathing she had thought banished years ago, sent tears streaming down Connie's cheeks. She hated herself for saying them, immediately wished she could take them back. But she couldn't, so she leapt. She leapt as high as she could and came crashing down on Pearl, it was such a slow attack for the Crystal Gem but she didn't dodge. She didn't move at all, and as she bore down with her rose tinted blade she began to worry that she'd end up cleaving Pearl in two.

Then she was stopped.

Hard.

Pain shot through her right arm and shoulder so suddenly it took her a moment to realize what had happened. She dangled a few inches above the arena tiles, at eye level with Pearl, the Gem's pale fingers wrapped in a painful grip around her wrist. That was what had stopped her, Pearl hadn't dodged or blocked the attack. She'd simply caught her out of the air as if it were nothing at all, nearly dislocating her sword arm in the process.

“You have no idea how much I regret those words. How much I regret trying to warp you into an imitation of what I used to be,” Pearl said softly while looking down at the broken floor tiles.

Connie's face burned with embarrassment. She knew the leap had been a foolish, wasteful move but she figured Pearl would simply dodge. Not snatch her up like some helpless child. She struggled and pulled at her wrist but Pearl didn't move, her arm didn't even budge with the effort of holding her aloft. Connie might as well have been pulling at a steel beam.

“You have no idea how much I've come to value you over the last few years. As a student, as a fellow warrior, as a friend.”

Pearl was looking at Connie now and she could barely draw breath under that gaze. Her eyes were full of so much pain, her face crinkled up almost as if she were on the brink of crying but no tears would come. She couldn't stand that look, she needed to get away. She kicked out, slamming her toned right leg into Pearl's ribs. Pearl didn't even flinch. Now she was starting to panic, her right hand was going numb in Pearl's grip, she had to do something. Desperately she pulled herself upward and wrapped her other arm around the one keeping her prisoner. Then with both legs she pushed into Pearl's chest with all her might, giving everything she had in an effort to break the vice-like grip holding her.

“You have no idea what it will be like out there, you don't understand what they'll do to you,” Pearl continued in a much calmer voice, “let me show you.”

Then Connie was free. Pearl jerked her arm forward releasing Connie's wrist and she fell away, barely catching her feet. She stumbled a few steps backwards before steadying herself. She had to regain some semblance of self control if she was going to have any chance here. She took deep, steadying breaths, reaching for her focus. For the clarity and quick thinking that gave her her edge. Stance wide, body lowered, Rose Quartz sword at the ready. She couldn't play defensively here, her only hope was to keep Pearl off balance, she couldn't overpower her.

She was running, she painted a snarl on her face and held her sword recklessly with no semblance of form. She wanted Pearl to think she was still out of control, still fighting sloppy because of her emotions. Being underestimated was her greatest advantage. She came in low, seeming to aim a messy strike at Pearl's legs. Pearl stood unconcerned and casually lined up her spear to block.

Then Connie spun.

She viciously twisted her body and changed her stance in an instant, snapping her sword around with the momentum into a brutal horizontal slash at Pearl's left side. There would be no time to bring her spear up to counter, not even for a Gem. Connie almost hesitated, this attack would likely be enough to poof Pearl, but she pushed through. If that's what it took for her teacher to understand then she would do it. In the end Pearl would suffer no real harm from it.

But her blade met only air.

Then all the air was leaving her lungs.

Like a dancer Pearl elegantly bent her upper body backwards, Connie didn't understand how she'd been quick enough but she had, and at the same time she thrust her her right leg forward and into Connie's midsection. It was like the closing move of a ballet performance, Connie would have appreciated the grace if it weren't currently buried below her rib cage.

“They'll be faster then you,” Pearl said in a cold, flat voice as she gracefully spun away from her in a sort of modified pirouette. Connie sank to her knees gasping for breath, to her credit she was standing again in mere moments. She had to be because Pearl was charging her, brutally and straight out, all her usual grace and poise dropped. She set her feet and braced herself, body lowered and legs out wide with her blade held out horizontally to block. There was no time for anything else. Pearl slammed into Connie, her elegant spear bearing down on Connie's blade like a club, and her knees buckled.

“They'll be stronger than you,” Pearl growled through gritted teeth as she pushed down. Connie braced her burning arms against the hilt and flat of her blade desperately, but her torso was steadily folding back over her legs. She couldn't move, she was pinned. If she let up for even a second to try and roll out Pearl's spiral spear blade would drive past her sword and into her flesh. Pearl was going to break her in half.

But then the pressure vanished and Pearl's foot was snapping towards her. No not towards her, towards the flat of her blade just in front of her chest. The force of the kick was tremendous. Connie immediately went soaring backwards, blue sky and clouds careening past her vision as she went. Her left shoulder hit the stone tiles first, that sent her into a rolling spin for another thirty yards across the arena floor. Finally she came to rest on her back near one of the gaping openings that the corrupted Kunzite had tunneled into the ancient tiles. She'd lost her grip on the Rose Quartz blade, as she stopped it went clattering past her into the chasm below. She heard it land with a loud clang. Out of her reach.

Then she heard Pearl screaming.

She opened her eyes to the sight of Pearl soaring down out of the sky, spear leading for her exposed chest, like a diving heron. All elegance and deadly grace returned. There was no time for her to move, no time to react, no sword to defend herself with. She closed her eyes tightly and braced herself as best she could.

A loud crack, followed by a grinding vibration came from her left side. She flinched, but felt no pain, might as well see what had happened. She opened her eyes to the sight of Pearl leaning over her and breathing heavily. Connie always found it odd when they did this since she knew the Gems didn't need to breath. On her left side, just below her armpit and right against the side of her chest was Pearl's spear. Buried half its length in the arena flooring, an inch more to the right and it would have been buried in Connie's heart.

“And they will _never_ show you any mercy,” Pearl gasped, her voice wavering as if she were struggling for control. “How can you possibly face them if you can't even beat a Pearl?”

_If you can't even beat a Pearl?_

Those words broke something in Connie. She hadn't heard Pearl put herself down in years. She looked up into that pale, tense face and those watery sky blue eyes and...and she couldn't bear it. She _wouldn't_ bear it.

“Okay Pearl. Okay,” she said in a quite voice. Pearl stared at her for a moment and then seemed to accept her words as a submission. Her spear vanished in a cloud of glittering mist and she started to rise from her position straddling Connie.

Then Connie wrapped her legs around Pearl's, entangling them and preventing her from standing.

“I'll be smarter than them,” she whispered fiercely as she locked her arms around Pearl's torso and pressed her head into her teacher's shoulder. Then before Pearl had any time to recover from the shock she tipped them over the edge into the crater. They slammed into the rough hewn stone of the tunnel bend a few heartbeats later, Pearl below Connie absorbing most of the impact. She didn't even cry out, she just stared up at Connie in shock. Connie immediately reached behind her back and pulled a small dagger from her crimson sash. An intricate yet functional weapon from Pearl's own private collection that she had given to her as a gift on her last birthday.

“I'll be more resourceful,” she said passionately, staring defiantly down at Pearl, their positions of a few moments before reversed. She leaned forward then and pressed the tip of her small blade against the side of Pearl's creamy, perfectly smooth gemstone. Pearl stared back at her, her face unreadable.

“But most importantly Pearl, I won't be anything like _them_ because—,” her voice wavered and broke as fresh tears began carving their way through the dirt and dust caked on her cheeks. “Because I was taught better than that!” Connie was full on sobbing now, her shoulders shaking with each gasping breath she pulled in. The dagger clattered to the rough stone below as she fell over Pearl, wrapping her arms around her and burying her face in the bewildered gem's neck. “Please Pearl, I know I wasn't built for fighting...“

“But that doesn't mean you're not prepared to try,” Pearl finished for her in a soft voice as she curled one hand through Connie's hair and wrapped the other arm around her shaking back. They lay there for a few moments until Connie's shaking subsided and her breathing evened out. Finally Connie extricated herself from Pearl and sat down beside her, scrubbing at her cheeks, face dark with embarrassment and brow furrowed with anxiety.

“Connie I'm sorry, I guess...I guess sometimes I need to be reminded of my own lessons,” Pearl said with a soft chuckle.

“Does that mean you'll let me...?”

“Yes. I was just so worried and I kept thinking about the war and how I'd have to go through it all again... I wanted to protect you but...but that was selfish of me. Forgive me.”

“Only if you'll forgive me,” Connie replied remembering with guilt some of the things she'd said during their duel.

"Neither of us were thinking clearly. Now come on, I still owe you dinner.” Pearl stood with Connie and wrapped an arm around her waist, then with one graceful leap they were back on the stone tiles of the arena.

“Thank you Pearl,” Connie said, exhaustion creeping into her voice as she leaned against her teacher during their walk to the warp pad.

“For what? Giving you a fresh set of bruises?" Pearl said with a lopsided grin. "Maybe we can get Steven to kiss those away while I prepare your victory dinner.”

“Pearl!” Connie cried out as her face darkened again and she halfheartedly shoved her chuckling teacher, nearly falling over in the process. Then they were at the pad. They stepped on and vanished in a brief pillar of light, moving forward into whatever the coming future may bring. Together.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we are at the end. I want to say thank you to everyone who read this far. As I said before this fic may be the start of a series of fics set in the same time and setting. We'll see, I have a few ideas. I feel like this last chapter is a bit sloppy but I couldn't work on it anymore, it needed to be posted. I really tried to inject emotion into it without coming off as over dramatic, not sure if I succeed, you be the judge. :) A note on Bismuth and her mentions in this work, when I began this the Bismuth episode and her subsequent bubbling hadn't happened yet. For the purposes of this fic I'm assuming that at some point in the near future she'll be released and they will somehow reconcile. I also really hope that happens. Well, that's all!


End file.
